Sac State professor watches Fearless Felix jump closely

As Felix Baumgartner prepared to jump from over 128,000 feet above New Mexico, Sacramento State professor Dr. Jose Granda watched in anticipation at his Davis home.

His eyes were glued to his computer, awaiting what he called a moment in history.

"I think the biggest contribution is the education and inspiration for little kids," said Granda, a NASA faculty fellow.

After leaving the capsule, Baumgartner -- dubbed Fearless Felix -- appeared to tumble. But the experienced sky diver was able to maneuver himself into a more stable position.

His free fall lasted four minutes and 19 seconds, just shy of the free fall record. During that time, Granda reflected on the potential impact of the jump.

"Now that the space shuttle program has winded down, we want to transfer the technology to people to do things like what we are seeing today. It will create interest in people to develop new things for space," said Granda.

Before deploying his parachute, the daredevil expressed concern that his visor was fogging up, a result of a heater that wasn't working. Moments later he popped his chute.

"There has been calculations, simulations as to what could happen. It's a controlled risk, so I can assure that this is possible," said Granda.

Baumgartner floated to the ground, landing safely, breaking the record for highest-ever sky dive and falling faster than the speed of sound.

Copyright 2012 by KCRA and The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.